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Five swine flu cases at major city company

8:10am Friday 10th July 2009 in


FIVE cases of swine flu have been confirmed at one of Worcester’s largest employers.

The cases at Bosch Thermotechnology, Warndon Villages, were confirmed over “the past few weeks” according to a company spokesman.

There is also one unconfirmed case of the virus.

The information came in an internal memo from the firm’s director of human resources Catherine Wilson which explained to workers that closing any part of production would do nothing to prevent the virus spreading.

Worcestershire’s health chiefs have now accepted the virus cannot be contained using antiviral drugs and have moved to the treatment phase.

The memo said three of the cases were with external employees and three were based at the Worcester site in Cotswold Way, where about 1,150 people are employed.

“We are taking regular advice from the Health Protection Agency, NHS, and the World Health Orgnisation and we have been informed there are no health requirements to close any of our operations,” it added.

Staff at the firm – part of the Worcester Bosch Group, were also given advice on what symptoms to look for and to call their GP or NHS Direct on 0845 4647 if they suspect infection. Medical advice to people with flu-like symptoms remains not to visit doctors or go to hospital.

An employee, who wished to remain anonymous, said he was worried when he read the memo, included with his payslip.

“Obviously, it could spread,” he said. However, Carl Arntzen, company director, said employees’ safety was highest priority.

“We have taken precautions to ensure the impact of swine flu is kept to a minimum and that all our employees are informed about the disease,” he said.

So far in Worcestershire 80,000 courses of Tamiflu have been delivered to cope with the virus. On Monday, Worcestershire had 105 new cases.

Comments(22)

Pomygranit says...
8:48am Fri 10 Jul 09

5 people are off work with sickness out of 1150. Happens every day to every company. Is it news? NO
Worcester Sun strikes again!!

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Tulstar says...
9:05am Fri 10 Jul 09

I wonder how many people are taken ill with "normal" flu every single day... And yet there seems to be mass panic over Swine Flu when 5 people get sick.

What a joke.

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Malvern says...
10:07am Fri 10 Jul 09

I don't understand why people think there is some sort of conspiracy about the swine flu pandemic. Just be thankful that it is mild. Look at history and you will see that the possibility of a large number of deaths is very real. It's been so long since the last major flu pandemic that people have forgotten the danger. Ok the media may sensationalise too much but the threat is real, you would cry foul if you weren't informed about these kind of things. (rant over) - DON'T PANIC!

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em miles says...
11:00am Fri 10 Jul 09

ok...so none of you would be remotely worried if you worked there and there was swine flu cases within your office etc...

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Maggie Would says...
11:08am Fri 10 Jul 09

em miles wrote:
ok...so none of you would be remotely worried if you worked there and there was swine flu cases within your office etc...
Well, no actually. I have had flu. Real flu, the sort that puts you in bed for several days. Not what people often think is flu, which is just a heavy cold. It's a nasty disease to have, but I am fit and healthy otherwise so it's not life threatening.

So no, I am no more worried about swine flu than I am about having a car accident, falling down the steps in the garden (actually, I do that quite a lot, being clumsy) or getting bitten by/eating something that I am allergic to - a real risk in my case. They are all a risk but life's too short to worry.

I just continue to take normal precautions, which in the case of flu is by washing hands, staying away from others if I feel ill etc and enjoy life.

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moonpig says...
12:08pm Fri 10 Jul 09

I am worried about my mum who has 'underlying health issues' so would be a high risk case. There will be a vaccine available by the time the main flu season comes along so I am just hoping she can avoid it until then.

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em miles says...
12:19pm Fri 10 Jul 09

moonpig wrote:
I am worried about my mum who has 'underlying health issues' so would be a high risk case. There will be a vaccine available by the time the main flu season comes along so I am just hoping she can avoid it until then.
i agree my daughter has low immunity which is a little worrying !!

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MrStJohns says...
12:57pm Fri 10 Jul 09

Just type in google, there are other search engines available, a search to see how many people die per year of normal flu, then put it into perspective against how many people have died of swine flu, that should put anyone’s mind at rest. It really is only a problem to people with serious underlying health issues the same as normal flue would be! Malvern comparing it to other serious pandemics, such as perhaps the plague etc.. is somewhat of an exaggeration, I am not sure if you know but science has made some rather spectacular advances since then, we now also know the world is round!

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em miles says...
12:59pm Fri 10 Jul 09

we now also know the world is round...quality...ha
ha

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Olga says...
1:39pm Fri 10 Jul 09

I'm not too worried about the heavy cold symptoms............
.





......... but the curly tail is a little worrying!!!!

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MrStJohns says...
1:44pm Fri 10 Jul 09

yes i agree olga, i have also read that once you have contracted swine flu, the butchers constantly calling to the house in search of bacon can be somewhat of an annoyance.

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chrisnewmanuk says...
1:58pm Fri 10 Jul 09

em miles wrote:
we now also know the world is round...quality...ha ha
Well, elipsoid...

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MrStJohns says...
2:11pm Fri 10 Jul 09

'Ellipsoid' what is this heresy you speak of?! Editor have this man put in the stocks!

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Sarah Cronk says...
2:43pm Fri 10 Jul 09

I know of three cases of Swine flu of staff at Worcester University. I believe they are concerned it's spreading..

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mikeworcs says...
3:06pm Fri 10 Jul 09

The naivety witnessed in forums and posting like this is always amusing! Agreed, the virus is not yet lethal to healthy people, seemingly only killing those with immune systems problems, but the fact that a virus can easily mutate is the real cause for concern. It may become harmless, or it may get worse.

Even though the approximate mortality rate of around 0.5% doesn't seem much, why don't you calculate what that means on a national or global level? Try 37 million people on for size, and then see if you're still not concerned. Even if a slight mutation raises it only to 5% mortality - do you fancy your chances?

I work in disaster planning (to use the simple term for it), so forward planning and analysis is naturally performed, unlike many commentators, it seems!

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MrStJohns says...
3:14pm Fri 10 Jul 09

so tell me mikeworcs if all the figures that are being bandied around are correct how are they being calculated because the latest stance is that if you think you have swine flu then you don’t even visit the doctor you just get an automatic prescription for Tamiflu, so how are they ascertaining who actually has the virus and who doesn’t but thinks they do? There’s a lot of hypochondriacs out there. Secondly lots of things might happen, yes the virus may mutate, or it may not. I may have a curry tonight i may not. Perspective and a realistic approach is sensible and being given actual data not projections is also preferable.

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mikeworcs says...
3:34pm Fri 10 Jul 09

MrStJohns - If you take the time to visit the World Health Org. website, and look at the laboratory-confirmed case statistics, then the maths is quite simple to work out - and that's based on on the current 'version' of the virus.

Re the Doctor's, it is at the Doctor's discretion to provide a prescription, so it is not automatic - unless of course you deliberately list symptoms identical to swine-flu sufferers. Neither relatives nor those in close-contact are given tamiflu anymore, either.

I agree that perspective and realism are sensible, but having said that, doing nothing or very little is also foolhardy.

Tell me, Would you rather overdo the precautions or would you prefer to wait until a situation escalates to something that cannot be controlled
or contained?

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MrStJohns says...
3:41pm Fri 10 Jul 09

I understand your point of view and of course prevention and preparation is paramount, but my point is that perspective and focus should be brought in to temper the sensationalised reports in the newspapers. Is it not true that more people every year die from what is referred to as standard flu? And secondly remind me what happened in the last threatened epidemic, bird flu?(well granted international drugs companies did make quite large sums of money) or perhaps the mad cow pandemic. What will it be next year fish flu.

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mikeworcs says...
3:48pm Fri 10 Jul 09

I don't think anyone would disagree with you at all about the media approach to reporting. 'Sensationalising' things probably causes more complicated problems than the event itself, in many cases.
Ignoring the media, and reading the professional views provides a far more accurate picture of things that happen, as we all know!

Most reported things like this do turn out to be nothing but money-spinners for drug companies, so I'm not one for scare-mongering, despite what readers may think!

I simply believe that if the real experts (medical professionals and not the media) are genuinely concerned about it, then I consider the situation to be something that I should also think about, rather than dismiss. :)

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MrStJohns says...
4:01pm Fri 10 Jul 09

Well you do have a valid point and im never one to dismiss such. And it’s always good to have a debate about something, with out it descending into name calling and the like which is sometimes the case, eh Clerken?!

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Malvern says...
1:05pm Mon 13 Jul 09

p.s. bird flu is still out there.

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MrStJohns says...
2:55pm Tue 14 Jul 09

quite correct malvern, but it hasnt wiped out the population quite yet.

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